Editing sex scenes in fiction - Maya Berger

1. Editing Sex Scenes in Fiction
SfEP Annual Conference – 16 September 2019
Maya Berger

2. This session will include:
1. Help! This book has a sex scene
2. Anatomy 101
3. How purple was my prose
4. The importance of tact
5. The tough stuff: Exploitation and non-consent
6. Editing intimacy in YA and speculative fiction
7. Questions/discussion

3. Help! This book has a sex scene
© Wisconsinart (Megapixl.com)

4. Group exercise #1
“Pat’s mouth slides south, and Elaine is flash-frozen at the summit of
sensation, her body stun-gunned by the flick of Pat’s tongue. She lies
splayed out on the linoleum, comparing Pat to Paul: Paul goes down
on her because he saw it in a porno movie, because he thinks it’s the
cool thing to do. Paul goes down on her like he’s really eating her,
like she’s a Big Mac and he’s got to get his mouth around the whole
burger in one big bite.”
– Music for Torching, A.M. Homes, 1999, p.109

5. Anatomy 101

6. @2013 Davidspell.com

7. @ 2011 Damn Good Yoga

8. How purple was my prose
@ 2017 The Calligrammar

9. Clichés commonly found in sex scenes include:
• Shock value
• Every orgasm is earth-shattering
• Never calling a spade a spade
• Always calling a spade a spade

10. The importance of tact
Source: Minh Uong/The New York Times

11. Group exercise #2
“Goodbye, Mummy,” Cleo said, hanging up the phone and putting the handset back in
its cradle.
Geraldo’s tumescent cock was leaking like a broken pipe under the kitchen sink of a
mildewy old house, and he was ready to fuck her. With it. Now.
As they made sweet love, Cleo thought of what it would be like to pop a baby out of
her hole as her own mother had done with her.
“Pound my sacred chamber,” she wailed like a banshee. “Pound me like we’re on
XTube.”
– Maya Berger, 2019

12. The tough stuff: Exploitation and non-consent
Source: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/CNYTHZL

14. Editing intimacy in YA and speculative fiction
• Young Adult Fiction
• Be mindful of age-of-consent laws
• What impressions of sex will the reader take away from the story?
• Speculative Fiction
• Fewer “reality” restrictions
• Ensure internal consistency

15. Thank you!